Facepalm: There may be an rising variety of M1 iMac homeowners reporting the looks of the identical show concern, suggesting it is a {hardware} flaw on Apple’s half. What’s worse is that lots of the affected machines, which first arrived in 2021, have seen their warranties expire, that means customers need to pay $600 to $700 for out-of-warranty repairs.
The primary stories that some 24-inch M1 iMac fashions have been experiencing darkish horizontal traces on their screens first appeared over a 12 months in the past. It is unclear what number of have been affected, although the complaints seem on a number of on-line boards, together with Reddit and Apple’s personal assist pages.
The darkish traces stay on the display even after the all-in-one is restarted. Customers say that the issue doesn’t seem on exterior shows linked to the iMac, pointing to a display concern somewhat than one thing affecting the iGPU. Some individuals say the nook of the iMac turns into extremely sizzling as soon as the traces seem.
One affected proprietor stated they contacted Apple’s assist group concerning the traces. A technician advised them that the issue was associated to a flex cable situated on the high of the display. The cable must maintain a voltage of round 50V when the show brightness is ready to excessive or most. After some time, often about 2 years, the cable begins to burn out and degrade on the connector, inflicting quick circuits that end in horizontal black traces showing. It implies that even if you happen to substitute the display, the traces will possible return in a few years.
The person means that the issue is a design flaw, a defect in parts, or using parts that do not meet Apple’s requirements.
There have been a handful of complaints about the identical concern showing within the M3-powered iMac, which was solely launched in October final 12 months. It might be that Apple by no means modified the design and the issue remains to be current within the newest AiO.
One person did obtain a free restore from Apple, although this looks like an exception as others say they needed to pay. With the affected M1 iMacs now out of guarantee, it might depart these with out AppleCare+ protection with a giant invoice to pay.
$5 – Talked to John Ternus – Head of {Hardware} Engineering at Apple, and it was fascinating listening to straight from the highest why the iPhone is tougher to restore. Take a hear pic.twitter.com/O9QsQOx4SP
– Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) Might 29, 2024
Again in Might, John Ternus, Head of {Hardware} Engineering at Apple, advised TechTuber Marques Brownlee that Cupertino focuses extra on making a product that by no means fails somewhat than one which is not tremendous dependable however is tremendous straightforward to restore.
